Growing Pains
by Dokami-San
Summary: Being a tamer isn't easy. Especially when your Digimon partner is a loudmouthed troublemaker. Rated T for future chapters.


**Chapter 1: An Introduction**

She couldn't believe this. She was losing, and he knew it. She stared nervously at her opponent, waiting for his next move. He just looked at her and grinned.

"Go fish."

Ai groaned and grabbed yet another card from the deck. Impmon snickered as the six-year-old girl fumbled around, trying her best to keep herself from dropping any cards, as is common when you're playing a card game and you accumulate a large number of cards in your hand. Ai looked discouraged as she glanced at her hand, and, in an act of frustration, promptly threw her cards on the floor. The little tamer stood up and crossed her arms.

"I don't wanna play this game anymore. Let's play something else," she suddenly said. Impmon stood up with her and stretched his arms.

"Fine by me. I would've won, anyways. So, waddya wanna do now?"

Ai pondered the question for a moment, and looked over at the digital clock on her and her brother's night stand. It was 3:40. Ai remembered her mother saying that she'd come home at around 5:00. So they only had about an hour left to play. The little girl turned back to her Digimon.

"Well, we could play fetch with our puppy until Mom comes home," Ai suggested. Impmon's left eye twitched at the mention of the word "puppy". He wasn't too fond of their pet, since it constantly used him as a chew toy -- it was as if the dog knew Impmon was a rival for Ai and Mako's affection. But he decided to forget about that for the moment. He had other things on his mind.

"Yeah, about that...," Impmon spoke up. "Don'tcha think you should tell yer parents about me?"

Ai blinked in suprise. "Why?"

"'Cause that'd be the right thing to do...," Impmon cleched his fists. "And I'm tired of you guys always actin' like there's an air raid goin' on every time one of yo--"

The little demon Digimon wasn't able to finish his sentence, however, because at that moment Mako burst through the door and tackled him.

"_Mom is coming! We have to hide Impmon!_" Mako blurted out. Ai's expression of suprise turned to that of horror.

"But why! It's only 3:40--"

"3:41," Impmon corrected, pointing at the clock as he got up from under Mako.

"3:41! She shouldn't be here _now_!"

"Because she said so," said a voice coming from behind them.

Ai and Mako looked at one another questioningly, then turned around. Impmon just grinned wickedly. Ai and Mako's babysitter, Nanase, had gotten in on the conversation, and was now standing at the doorway, leaning against the frame. Her face paled briefly when her gaze met Impmon's grin, but she quickly turned to the two children.

"Your mother called and said she was let out of work early about half an hour ago," Nanase said.

"Why didn't you say so earlier!" Ai cried. She was hoping that this was all just a prank, so she could play with Impmon some more before her mother arrived and the chance of getting to play with him again that day would drop. But Nanase didn't seem like she was joking. The teenager looked over at Impmon from the corner of her eye.

"Well, you and _Impman_ seemed to be having so much fun, I didn't want to disturb you," she replied. Nanase had found out about Ai and Mako's "secret" Digimon friend a week ago, but was forbidden to tell the children's parents under a threat from Impmon, so...she wasn't really a bad person, she just didn't like the little purple imp very much.

Impmon scowled and crossed his arms over his chest. "It's Imp_mon_, girly. Get it right."

Nanase ignored the Digimon and continued on. "Anyways, she should be here any minute now. You better hide the little guy quickly."

"Hey! Who you callin' little!" Impmon cried out. But he was ignored yet again as the front door opened, and Ai and Mako's mother entered. Nanase left the three to greet her. In desperation, Ai grabbed Impmon by the arm and shoved him into their closet. Impmon tried to protest, but soon found himself shrouded in darkness and surrounded by clothes and random junk. He slumped to the floor, hoping that it would all be over soon.

The young woman that was Ai and Mako's mother entered their room and smiled cheerfully at her children.

"Hello, sweeties! Where you two good for Miss Nanase today?"

They nodded in unison. The woman's smile broadened. And Impmon's eyes finally started to adjust to the darkness. He could now, very faintly, make out a fairly large spider nestled on a web in one of the top corners of the closet. He raised an eyebrow (does he even have eyebrows?) and observed the arachnid for a few seconds, with nothing better to do. His gaze soon strayed to his hands for apparently no reason, and that's when he got an idea. Impmon looked at his fingers, then at the spider, then at his fingers again, and smiled slyly. A small flame appeared out of nowhere on top of his finger, and he tossed the flame absentmindedly at the unknowing spider, killing it instantly. Impmon snickered to himself, glad to be getting some amusement. Though, he didn't quite realize what he had done wrong until it was too late: not only did the poor spider catch on fire, but so did its web, and, being in such a small area, soon one of the shirts caught on fire as well. Impmon gasped and immediatly started looking for something to help him get up to the spot where the fire was. He soon found a small footstool, and climbed up on it. Impmon waved around and shook the shirt's sleeve, trying to put out the fire, while two six-year-olds and a woman about in her twenties began to smell something...

"Do..Do I smell smoke?" Ai and Mako's mother suddenly exclaimed as she was heading out of the room. The two siblings glanced at one another, then made a mad dash to the closet, their mother following them and sniffing the air every once in a while.

"I swear I smell smoke. And it's coming from over here..."

"M-Maybe you just left the stove on, Mom," Mako said, hoping that would devert his mother's attention for even a few seconds.

"But I wasn't using the stove when I left...," the woman mused.

"Well...maybe Miss Nanase was using it," Ai chimed in. Mako shook his head.

"No, Miss Nanase wasn't using it, 'cause I was out in the living room with her all day playing video games, and she didn't go into the kitchen once," he said matter-of-factly. Ai gave a "you idiot" look to Mako, for which he immediatly added, "But maybe you should go check. Y'know, just in case."

The woman sighed. "I guess it wouldn't hurt to check. And I guess I could start dinner then, too..." she finally walked out of the room, and Ai and Mako gave a sigh of relief. They opened the closet to find Impmon sitting on a footstool, no fire in sight.

"Finally!" the Digimon said as he hopped off of the stool and strolled out of the closet. The two little tamers stared at him curiously.

"Ummm...what happened?" Mako asked. Ai peered around the closet and noticed a burnt-looking long sleeved shirt hanging lopsided on its hanger. Impmon just stared at Mako, confused.

"Waddya mean 'What happened'?"

"In the closet, what did you do? We could smell smoke and stuff..."

"Oh, that. I just found a spider in there and decided to shoot a flame at it for kicks. But I guess I set one too many things on fire when I did that, 'cause before I knew it I was blowin' at that fire like it was a giant birthday candle. But don't worry, I put it out."

"Ewwwww!"

Mako and Impmon turned to Ai, who had a disgusted look on her face. She was holding onto the burnt shirt gingerly with one hand.

"Ick, it's all wet. Impmon, how did you put out the fire?" Ai asked, holding the shirt out as far away from her as possible as if it were infested with germs.

"Well, blowin' on the fire didn't work, it just made it worse, so I had 'ta use water. But I didn't have any water with me, so I had 'ta use my spit." Impmon said, rather casually. The siblings' eyes widend in horror and disgust, but it didn't faze him at all. He apparently didn't know or care that what he did wasn't exactly sanitary.

"Could 'ya get me a glass of water? My mouth's reaaally dry now..." Impmon said as the two stared at the burnt, saliva-covered shirt with wide eyes. All Ai could think about was how much she'd need a bath after this.

-----

After the "Closet Fire Incident", as they called it, Ai and Mako figured it'd save everyone the hassle if they just told their parents about Impmon. The game plan was that after school, while their mother was asking them how their day went and if they had made any friends like she usually does, they'd say that they _did_ make a friend --or rather, already had a friend (that friend being Impmon, of course). The two were hoping that after the D-Reaper and Parasimon ordeals, them having a Digimon wouldn't be _that _supprising to her. Boy, were they wrong. Their plan seemed to be going great so far; of course, they hadn't even gotten home yet, but they still had so much confidence that the plan would work. The two siblings opened the front door and stepped inside; Impmon woke up from his nap on the roof and jumped down, following them close behind. Ai and Mako's mother was in the living room watching some sort of cooking show and taking notes. Suddenly, she turned around to face her children, smiling as always.

"Hello, Ai, Mako. How was school today?" their mother said in a cavity-inducing sweet voice. Impmon, hiding in the kitchen behind his tamers, felt like he was going to vomit.

"It was awesome! Themmmph--" Mako began before Ai put her hand over his mouth.

"It was okay."

Their mother just laughed and continued on with the daily routine. "So, did you two finally make some friends today?"

Ai smiled and took her hand away from her brother's mouth. Mako gave her a dirty look.

"As a matter of fact, we did," Ai began. Impmon listened impatiently, wanting to get it all done with so he could go on his merry way.

_C'mon, Ai, spit it out!_

"Actually, we've known him for a little while..." Ai turned to Mako, who nodded in agreement. Their mother's smile began to fade slightly, confused. The little girl sighed, hoping that it would end well.

"Impmon, you can come out now."

Ai and Mako's mother now looked completely confused, wondering what kind of child could be named "Impmon". But as the little imp Digimon emerged from the kitchen and stood next to her two children, she began to understand...sort of.

The woman's expression of puzzlement turned to shock, and for a few minutes she just stared at Impmon. He raised an eyebrow.

"Hey there...I'm Impmon, and I'm a Digimon," the imp said, then grinned and added proudly, "I was one of the Digimon who fought the D-Reaper, if 'ya didn't know."

The children's mother slowly got up from her seat and walked over to the linen closet. Now it was Ai and Mako's turn to raise an eyebrow.

"Mom, what are you doing?" Ai asked worriedly.

Their mother opened the linen closet and got out an old broom. Turning to Impmon, her stare fixated on him again. Then, in an instant, she lunged at him.

_"Get out, you filthy monster!" _she shouted, and began to consecutively hit him across the head with the broom. Impmon ducked and put his hands over his head, trying to shield it from the blows. Ai and Mako panicked and grabbed a hold of their mother's coat, trying to keep her from hurting their Digimon partner. Suddenly, Impmon started to glow -- and digivolve. Ai and Mako stepped back, pulling their mother with them, and the three watched the little imp Digimon transform into a big humanoid Digimon. The Demon Lord blinked at the three humans staring at him.

"Uhh..." Beelzemon said, at a loss for words. Ai and Mako's mother twitched and let out a shriek, opening the linen closet again, this time pulling out a can of pepper spray. She pointed the nozzle at Beelzemon and sprayed him right in the face. The Digimon let out a yell and rubbed his eyes as a reflex.

"What was that for!" he cried out. But before he had a chance to defend himself, the children's mother began bashing him with the the broom again. Ai and Mako pulled at their mother's coat again. And so the cycle continued.

An hour later, Ai and Mako were lying on the living room floor, exausted. Their mother had gone out to "get some fresh air and regain her sanity", as she put it. Their Digimon, still in his Mega form, was sprawled out across the couch, having been knocked unconcious by a good swing of the end of the broom to the back of his head. Ai turned over on her back and stared up at the ceiling.

_That could've gone better..._

_

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Author's Note**

"_Show me that smile again..._"

Hehe, sorry, couldn't help it...

So, hello! To those who read this, I must thank you! I'm not the best writer in the world, but I'm thankful at least that _something _of mine is appreciated.

I was inspired to write this fan fic after reading a certain chapter in a certain Digimon fic I was...reading. ( O.o I'm so redundant ) This was originally meant to just be what you peoples call a "one-shot", but I saw that I could add more (and actually wanted to add more), so the whole one-shot thing went out the window. Now it's a full-fledged story! I must give credit to Black or else feel guilty, 'cause they were the one who wrote that fic I mentioned. Also, I stole the whole broom and pepper spray thing from their fic ( they should know what I mean...I hope ), so yeah. ;

I know I thought of more to say, but I can't remember what it was, so I'll just stop right here. R&R! Or else! Hehehe...


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